Plan for amphibian flights to islands

By R.S.N.MURALI
10/06/09

KUALA TERENGGANU: Tourists intending to go to the holiday islands off the coast here will be able to take amphibian flights without needing to depend on the time-consuming ferry services.

The Terengganu government has plans to introduce such flights following mounting complaints from tourists about the erratic and packed boat services to the holiday islands.

Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said acknowledged that the state government should relook into providing more efficient transportation mode for holidaymakers wanting a weekend getaway.
Ahmad: 'some tourists yearn to make short trips to the islands here'

“Some of these tourists, especially Singaporean and KLties, yearn to make short trips to the islands here but are discouraged from doing so because of the erratic and time-consuming ferry services.

“Therefore, the state government has mooted a plan to launch amphibious flights to several islands from the jetty in Kuala Terengganu, he said here recently.

Among the islands considered are Pulau Redang, Perhentian Besar and Kecil.

It is also learnt that the state government was looking into procuring Cessna Caravan Amphibian type floatplanes for the island air service.

The aircraft could fly passengers and cargo, as well as be able to haul thousands of pounds of payload at more than 155 knots (285 km/hr) for more than925km.

It is understood that the state government is also interested on flying tourists direct from Dataran Shahbandar jetty here to these islands once the Singapore budget airline, Tiger Airways, commenced flight from the city-state to Sultan Mahmud airport here.

Tiger Airways recently confirmed their services here through a letter to the Malaysian Airport Berhad (MAB).

Ahmad said the state government has set a target of four million tourists to visit the state by the end of this year.

He said some two million visitors had visited the state.

In another development, Ahmad said the state government had placed orders for two catamarans to cater to the increasing number of visitors to Kenyir lake.

He said the catamaran costing RM800,000 each, could ferry 55 passengers at one time and would not capsize even in adverse conditions. Star